The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, set to hold its inaugural meeting Wednesday, is already better known as the voter fraud commission, owing not only to its explicit mission but also to the fact that so many of its members, including its chairman, Vice President Pence, and vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, are on record as subscribing to or defending President Trump’s unfounded view that millions of fraudulent votes were cast in last fall’s elections. In fact, the real fraud is the commission itself. Mr. Kobach, a Republican running for governor of Kansas, professes indignation and phony puzzlement over the jaundiced eye that Democrats, voting rights experts and some Republicans have aimed at the panel. Yet how could it be otherwise, given that Mr. Kobach himself has for years made a political cottage industry of his (repeatedly debunked) claims of fraud in Kansas and national elections? If ever a federal commission embarked on a “study” with a predetermined outcome, this is it.
There is little cause for surprise at the composition of the panel, whose (to date) 10 other members include several in Mr. Kobach’s mold. Among them is Hans von Spakovsky, who, in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department, led an effort to purge voter rolls in Missouri; he failed, and was later blocked from a seat at the Federal Election Commission as a result of his overt partisanship.
Having written that voter fraud and other shenanigans “can be found in every part of the United States,” Mr. von Spakovskynow presents himself as having an open mind on the subject, telling The Post that he hopes to “find out” how prevalent it is.
Full Article: Trump’s voter-fraud commission itself is a fraud – The Washington Post.